Ledgie Top Tens: Album Edition

[jaycee]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

I'm a big Lennon fan but found his solo career to be quite hit and miss. Peronal taste of course but for every really good album (Imagine, Rock and Roll, Mind Games) there was a bad one (Some Time In New York City, The Wedding Album, Shaved Fish) and so I tend to just listen to my Lennon Legend album.

Unfortunately for me, Lennon Legend is all I own at the moment (I'm getting them all for my birthday! ).
It seems you've missed Double Fantasy and Milk And Honey - how were they?

[bluefox4000]

Well double fantasy is marred by Yoko Ono's stuff but Lennon's stuff is golden Not sure about Milk And Honey though. For me with Lennon You can't go any higher then The Plastic Ono Band. That's classic. The rest of his Stuff IMO doesin't cut it. Imagine. overrated.
Some time in new york. Awful. Mind Games. Dull...Save the title track and #9 dream. Rock and Roll. I hate cover albums in general. Double fantasy see above. I've always felt his best stuff was with the Beatles before drugs and yoko consumed him. Just my view.

Mick

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by jaycee

Unfortunately for me, Lennon Legend is all I own at the moment (I'm getting them all for my birthday! ).
It seems you've missed Double Fantasy and Milk And Honey - how were they?

I didn't miss thm, I just didn;t want to list all of the albums and give an opinion on each one, lol. I agree with the above opinion regarding Double Fantasy - Lennon's stuff on it is fantastic. I haven't actually heard Milk and Honey, apart from Nobody Told Me and Woman, both of which I love!

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

I didn't miss thm, I just didn;t want to list all of the albums and give an opinion on each one, lol. I agree with the above opinion regarding Double Fantasy - Lennon's stuff on it is fantastic. I haven't actually heard Milk and Honey, apart from Nobody Told Me and Woman, both of which I love!

"Woman" is on Double Fantasy, not Milk & Honey.

I don't know why Yoko gets all the crap...her songs on those two albums are damn near as good (and in a couple of particulars*, better) as John's.

* = "Every Man Has A Woman Who Loves Him" & "Walking On Thin Ice".

She was "new wave" before the "wave" even hit.

[Dodfather]

Sorry, of course Woman is on Double Fantasy! D'oh! I actually like Walking On Thin Ice too.

[CreepingDeath]

For now-


The Beatles - Revolver
Led Zeppelin - IV
Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon
Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland
Black Sabbath - Black Box <---------- totally cheating with that one
Fleetwood Mac - Tusk
Stevie Nicks - The Wild Heart
Carole King - Tapestry
Metallica - Master of Puppets
Tool - Aenima



and about 1,000 honorable mentions...

[golddustwoman77]

Originally Posted by Sleepless-Child

Love, Love this list. 60's ! I'm surprised that not many people mentioned the Beatles. Their albums are fantastic.

Thanks for the compliment! I love 60s and 70s music. I could have definitely named more than 10. It was hard to narrow it down.

[blondyy-x]

Heart - Brigade
Heart - Desire Walks On
Blondie - No Exit
Led Zeppelin - IV
Stevie Nicks - Belladonna
Janis Joplin - Pearl
The Ramones - Anthology
Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
Avenged Sevenfold - Avenged Sevenfold
The Beatles - Please Please Me

[Artemis]

I'm only going to mention 1 album per artist. Otherwise It would just be Fleetwood Mac and Stevie in my top ten I apologize in advance for rambling xD

Fleetwood Mac - Rumours.

This album is what introduced me to Fleetwood Mac, while Rhiannon remains my first and favourite Fleetwood Mac song, Rumours was my first Fleetwood Mac album. It's the only Fleetwood Mac album I can listen to from start to finish without skipping any songs (even though Don't Stop is horrendous.)

The White Album and Tusk are both works of genius, While Mirage and Tango are brilliant in their own way (although the Lindsey songs on Mirage fall flat, and Seven Wonders is Stevie's only good track on Tango) The Dance has a special atmosphere around it, and Say You Will has moments of brilliance (Miranda, Thrown Down, Everybody Finds Out, Red Rover, Running Through The Garden) but needed to cut out roughly half the tracks to be the best it could be (Silver Girl especially)

Stevie Nicks - Bella Donna.

Stevie's masterpiece. Every song is totally perfect (apart from The Highwayman) I can listen to Bella Donna all day if I have to, it's such a wonderful album. All of the classic Stevie songs are on this album, and her songwriting is at her best on this one, in my opinion.

The Wild Heart and Trouble in Shangri-La are also masterpieces, both of them come very close to eclipsing Bella Donna for me. Rock A Little, The Other Side Of The Mirror and Street Angel are too inconsistent for me, flashes of brilliance...but a lot of songs I really don't care for.

ABBA : Gold

ABBA are brilliant, and Gold has all their best songs on it. ABBA were a singles group, in my opinion, and Gold shows them off perfectly. From brilliant up tempo songs like Take A Chance On Me to fantastic ballads like The Winner Takes It All, Gold does it all.

Diana Ross And The Supremes - Greatest Hits.

I love the Supremes, the Holland-Dozier-Holland songs are just perfection. Although Florence Ballard had the better voice, Diana Ross is produced perfectly throughout. Baby Love, Stop In The Name of Love and You Keep Me Hangin' On are simply classics.

Jefferson Airplane - Surrealistic Pillow

Grace Slick. I love her voice. I love the arrangements throughout. It's one of those albums where pretty much every track is brilliant. White Rabbit and Somebody To Love in particular are amazing. The harmonies throughout are impressive too.

Kate Bush - Hounds Of Love.

Her best work, in my opinion. Not a lot I can say about this album, other than it's simply brilliant and is Kate Bush at her best. Running Up That Hill is a near-perfect song.

Blondie - Parallel Lines

Very nearly went for Eat To The Beat instead, but Parallel Lines has more hits on it. Deborah Harry has a sensational voice, from the snarling in One Way Or Another, to her delivery in Heart Of Glass, she's amazing. Parallel Lines is an incredible album.

Beyoncé - I Am... Sasha Fierce

At the time, I thought her having two disks was pretentious and a stupid thing to do, but once I heard the album, I fell in love with it. I don't think there is anything Beyoncé can't sing, and I think in 30-40 years, people will be talking about Beyoncé the same way they talk about Aretha Franklin now. She has the best voice of this generation, in my opinion.

Lady GaGa - The Fame / The Fame Monster

I totally adore Lady GaGa. At first, everyone was buzzing about her, and I wasn't so sure, but then I heard Poker Face. It was THE song of 2009, and it was totally brilliant. There are flashes of brilliance on The Fame, such as Just Dance, Poker Face, Paparazzi, Love Game and Beautiful Dirty Rich, but The Fame Monster is superb throughout, and I draw comparisons with several other of my favourite artists. Bad Romance is possibly the perfect pop single, Alejandro is GaGa does ABBA, Telephone shows GaGa team up with Beyoncé, and, let's face it, Teeth is basically Tusk on crack.

Florence And The Machine - Lungs

This is my current favourite album. Florence has a sensational voice, and she uses it perfectly on this album. The dark songs are incredible, like Howl, and the more "commercial" stuff on the album like Kiss With A Fist don't sound compromised. Her lyrics are fantastic, and I love the use of drums and harps throughout the record. A stunning debut, and I think the comparisons to Kate Bush aren't, for once, wholly exaggerated. Really excited to see what else Florence can come up with!

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Stevie's masterpiece. Every song is totally perfect (apart from The Highwayman)

Why does everyone hate The Highwayman? I love it. The country influences really make the song for me.
Bella Donna is an american classic...because it sounds like the Eagles with Stevie!

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Why does everyone hate The Highwayman? I love it. The country influences really make the song for me.
Bella Donna is an american classic...because it sounds like the Eagles with Stevie!

This is what I was going to ask when I read this. I love The Highwayman and don;t get what so many people have against it!

[ILoveFM]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Why does everyone hate The Highwayman? I love it. The country influences really make the song for me.
Bella Donna is an american classic...because it sounds like the Eagles with Stevie!

Originally Posted by Dodfather

This is what I was going to ask when I read this. I love The Highwayman and don;t get what so many people have against it!

I am with you both! If anything I think Stop Draggin' My Heart Around is the weakest on the album. The Highwayman is so beautiful and her voice is absolutely gorgeous.


"Today and still today they ride. Will they ever win? He the glory, she the love, still they try again."

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Dodfather

This is what I was going to ask when I read this. I love The Highwayman and don;t get what so many people have against it!

My guess is- that it's just too country, for Stevie's fan base!

[louielouie2000]

It's really hard for me to do this, since I don't think of albums from different artists as a collective. My musical tastes are so incredibly varied... and I place much more value on each individual artist's best album, vs the best albums ever recorded, period.

Joseph Arthur: Redemption's Son This album is particularly dear to me. Joseph is dealing introspectively with the loss of his father, grappling with his spirituality, stumbling around trying to find love, and searching for his place in the world. All of which I can relate to very closely.

Lindsey Buckingham: Out Of The Cradle This album pretty much repeats the exact same themes as Joseph Arthur's Redemption's Son: dealing with the loss of his father, losing the love game, questioning spirituality, and trying to find his niche.

Madonna: Bedtime Stories This is Madonna's most lyrically honest, open album. Much like Joseph Arthur's Redemption's Son, and Lindsey Buckingham's Out Of The Cradle, Madonna is struggling with the loss of a parent (her Mother), love, her identity, religion, sexuality, fame, etc. The way the album transitions very slowly and seamlessly from R&B to ethereal/existential/spanish sounding is genius in my book. It's like tracing the metamorphosis Madonna herself is going through internally at the time.

Fleetwood Mac: Tusk This is Fleetwood Mac's opus. Their creative pinnacle. The last pure album they released, in my book. Perhaps the most creatively honest and revealing, too.

Amy Winehouse: Back To Black This album is a revelation to me. Amy's spot on '60s Soul/R&B/Blues sound tinged with her deliciously gritty and soul-bearing lyrics single handedly breathed new life into a genre I felt was long since dead for good. It's unfortunate Amy's personal problems overshadow the HUGE musical talent she is.

Sheryl Crow: Sheryl Crow It's hard picking any one of Sheryl's amazing (and DIFFERENT!) albums out as the best, but for a combination of reasons, this one wins for me. As her sophomore album, and the first album she produced all by herself, we find Sheryl really coming into her own musically. She deals with everything from relationships to politics and American life in this one. She almost single handedly made retro sounds and the '70s cool again with this album. This album is a moment in time for me personally... this was a soundtrack for me as a teen in high school.

Led Zepplin: IV Hard for me to chose just one of their albums, but I think this is their pinnacle in my book. The way Led Zepplin fused delta blues with hard rock and created their own genre will always fascinate me. I love their weaving of familiar blues themes with current events, love, fantasy, and literature. All of this totaled creates a rich tapestry few other bands have the ability to craft.

Eagles: Hotel California Yes, this one may be cliche, and worn out... but when you really listen to it, you're reminded of why it was the goliath it was. The album tracks are where it's at for me. Joe Walsh's and Randy Meisner's tracks are the highlights in my book. Even 30+ years on, all of the themes running through this album are still incredibly current to this day: loss of paradise, loss of innocence, building people up just to tear them down, trying to find lessons from failed relationships, overindulgence and demise, etc.

Pink Floyd: Dark Side Of The Moon This is the very definition of concept album to me. I still feel this one was ahead of it's time. I love the abstract way it approached painful reality. The punctuation of familiar sounds into the twisted and ethereal soundscape. Doesn't get much better than this in my book.

At this point, I hate to cop out and do more Mac related stuff... but I'm tired, and I want sleep. So I'm taking the easy road out!

Fleetwood Mac: Mystery To Me To me, there's a very distinct reason why Fleetwood Mac released it's 1975 album as a self-titled record: they were signaling that Fleetwood Mac was a wholly new band, and all past incarnations were moot. The band that released Mystery To Me is absolutely a different band than released Rumours. That said, I think this is 1967-1974 Fleetwood Mac's strongest album. Every single song is worth it's weight in gold. This album showcases Bob Welch best as the HUGE talent he was. This is the one album where the line between Bob's love of the mystical, and Christine's straight forward pop truly blurred. Christine was recording some very ethereal songs, and Bob was recording some very pop songs. There's a unified sound between the two writers that wasn't really seen before or since. This is such a great pop album.

Stevie Nicks: Bella Donna I got this album the day I discovered Stevie, and it's always been special to me. I love it's classic themes of relationships, loss, fame, and lust. There's an air of restraint to this album, of simplicity. There's no gimmicks like Stevie's later albums. No filler. Drugs were still working for her, and not against her on this album. You can tell she was breathing fresh air for the first time in years simply being able to record the album at all. There's an effervescence about it, despite it's often dark material.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Madonna: Bedtime Stories This is Madonna's most lyrically honest, open album. Much like Joseph Arthur's Redemption's Son, and Lindsey Buckingham's Out Of The Cradle, Madonna is struggling with the loss of a parent (her Mother), love, her identity, religion, sexuality, fame, etc. The way the album transitions very slowly and seamlessly from R&B to ethereal/existential/spanish sounding is genius in my book. It's like tracing the metamorphosis Madonna herself is going through internally at the time.

Sheryl Crow: Sheryl Crow It's hard picking any one of Sheryl's amazing (and DIFFERENT!) albums out as the best, but for a combination of reasons, this one wins for me. As her sophomore album, and the first album she produced all by herself, we find Sheryl really coming into her own musically. She deals with everything from relationships to politics and American life in this one. She almost single handedly made retro sounds and the '70s cool again with this album. This album is a moment in time for me personally... this was a soundtrack for me as a teen in high school.

louie - 2 great choices! I wish Bedtime Stories wasn't Madonna's forgotten album. Surely American Life deserve that dis-honour, haha. I'd love to see her some of the tracks from it live, especially Take A Bow, which is in my top 5 Madonna songs ever.

I'm a huge Sheryl Crow fan and think that this album and The Globe Sessions are her finest hours. Hard To Make A Stand is just brilliant, but then most of this album is. Detours is only ok though. I hope her next album is better!